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In this activity, learners create a simple “top” from a CD, marble and bottle cap, and use it as a spinning platform for a variety of illusion-generating patterns.

In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.

In this activity, learners create a cylindrical mirror to see themselves as others see them.

In this activity, learners use simple materials to create giant bubbles.

In this activity about light and refraction, learners make a lens and magnifying glass by filling a bowl with water.

In this quick optics activity, learners use a dim point of light (a disassembled Mini MagLite and dowel set-up) to cast a shadow of the blood supply in their retina onto the retina itself.

In this activity, learners explore liquid crystals, light and temperature. Using a postcard made of temperature-sensitive liquid crystal material, learners monitor temperature changes.

How can you make one shade of gray look like two? By putting it against two different color backgrounds! This activity allows learners to perform this sleight of hand very easily.

This resource contains several mini-explorations using a slide projector as a light source to investigate light and the properties of images.

In this activity about light and perception, learners create and observe moire patterns.

In this activity, learners use a compact disc to make a spectrometer, an instrument used to measure properties of light.

In this activity, learners explore how polarizing sunglasses can help diminish road glare.

An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.

In this activity, learners use simple materials to simulate the effect of X-rays in a safe way. Learners place a piece of window screen over a box and a cardboard pattern on top of the screen.

This activity provides instructions for building a mirrored tube--a smaller and simpler version of a submarine's periscope--that lets you see around corners and over walls.

In this activity, learners observe as soap bubbles float on a cushion of carbon dioxide gas. Learners blow bubbles into an aquarium filled with a slab of dry ice.

In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.

Did you know that using a lens one can bend light to make pictures of the world? It's true!

With little more than a flashlight, a straw, and a plastic lid, make an observatory so you can see the amazing colors in bubbles.

In this activity, learners discover that it's difficult to distinguish between two different shades of gray when they aren't separated by a boundary.